Valley Entertainment is an American independent record label and music distributor based in New York City, United States. The company was founded in 1994 by Barney Cohen and Jon Birge. In 2001, it acquired the prestigious[1] back catalogue of space, ambient, and new-age music from Hearts of Space Records. As of 2017[update], it has a catalogue of about 375 releases.
History
In 1979, Barney Cohen founded Valley Media (a separate company) and opened Valley Record Distributors in 1984. In 1994, he stepped down from Valley Media to focus on the proprietary independent music label he had started:[2] Valley Entertainment, founded in 1994 by Barney Cohen and Jon Birge.[3]
In 2001, they acquired from Stephen Hill the prestigious[1] trademark and back catalogue of his Hearts of Space Records[3] (including among its about 140 releases such albums as Constance Demby's 1986 Novus Magnificat, Michael Stearns's 1988 Encounter, Rich & Roach's 1990 Strata, Rich & Lustmord's 1995 Stalker, Steve Roach's 1996 The Magnificent Void, Robert Rich's 1998 Seven Veils, and solo albums by Paul Haslinger from Tangerine Dream). As Hill explained, "Despite our success, by 2000 things were getting very difficult for record companies our size, and ultimately we sold the label to a larger company in 2001. Luckily we found Jon Birge of Valley Entertainment, who recognized what we had accomplished and has kept the HOS Records catalog together and available."[4] Though not any more associated with its business side, Stephen Hill continues to work on Artist & Repertoire and to produce new recordings for the label.[5][6][7]
^ abSande, Steve (2004). "The sky's the limit with ambient music", San Francisco Chronicle, January 11, 2004, p. PK-18, at SFGate.com via Archive.org: "[...] the Sausalito record label Hearts of Space, which has carved out a dominant niche in the area of avant-garde electronica by providing what he calls "slow music for fast times." [...] The success of companies like Hearts of Space (which was purchased by New York's Valley Entertainment in 2001), the abundance of do-it-yourself home studios and an increase in tech-knowledgeable customers suggest that the market for ambient music may increase in the near future."
^HOS, "Hearts of Space - About": "While we still help produce new recordings for the label, we no longer run it day to day."
^HOS, "Hearts of Space - Company": "In 2001 the record label part of the company was sold to Valley Entertainment in New York, who maintain the catalog of almost 150 titles and release selected new recordings. Producer Stephen Hill continues to work on A&R and production of new releases, while maintaining work on the radio program."
^HOS, "Hearts of Space - Bios": "[Stephen Hill] produces new compilations for Valley/Hearts of Space, [...]"
.png){kind=small}
